IT TAKES HUMANITY TO BUILD A VILLAGE: A FRESNO MAN IS ON A MISSION TO CONSTRUCT HOMES IN A PART OF ARMENIA STILL FEELING THE CRUSH OF A 1998 EARTHQUAKE.
Vanessa Colon
The Fresno Bee – California – KRTBN
Published: May 30, 2007
Kalem Kazarian won’t spend his time lounging around in a comfy hotel
or posing at tourist sites when he arrives in Armenia next month.
Armed with a camera, Kazarian of Fresno will travel to a rural village
where some residents live in shipping containers and metal-roof shacks
since an earthquake in 1998.
He’ll also work on a building project in Yerevan for Habitat for
Humanity Armenia, an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit
Christian housing ministry.
Lusaghbyur, the village he will visit, is northwest of Yerevan,
the capital.
His objective: document the living standards for a new nonprofit
dedicated to building homes one village at a time.
Armenian Hope Organization, a nonprofit group created in 2006, hopes to
rebuild homes destroyed by the devastating earthquake. The organization
with a five-member board formed after three local Armenian-Americans,
including 33-year-old Kazarian, traveled to Armenia for a Habitat
for Humanity building project.
Once the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia became independent in 1991,
the economy plummeted, hurting many rural villages.
"The landscape is littered with half-built homes. People had no jobs,
so they were not able to finish the houses. … They don’t have the
financial resources to rebuild," said Kazarian, a third-generation
Armenian-American with family ties to Armenia.
Unrelated families and generations of families live in crowded
apartments, and many of them pay rent, but they easily face eviction
because of a poor economy, according to Habitat for Humanity
Armenia. Many homes don’t have heating systems, toilets or running
water.
Brian Yengoyan of Fresno, executive director and chairman of the
Armenian Hope Organization, said at least 103 homes in Lusaghbyur
need to be fixed.
Yengoyan, a developer, and Kazarian, a construction subcontractor,
envision completing 80 to 100 new or partially built homes in
Lusaghbyur. Most of the homes would be built from tufa stone and
straw bale, natural local materials.
For the two men, the project feels like a duty for their generation.
"I feel like if Armenian-Americans won’t do it, who else will? … It’s
to help motivate the younger generation and make them aware of their
heritage.
It’s our responsibility to make a difference," said 27-year-old
Yengoyan.
For the first five years of the project, the organization will use
its donated funds to build homes through Habitat for Humanity Armenia,
Kazarian said.
Habitat for Humanity Armenia homes range from 800 to 1,200 square feet.
Building a new Habitat home in Armenia costs about $10,000, Kazarian
said.
So far, the Armenian Hope Organization has raised $8,000, Kazarian
said. The Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church in east-central
Fresno also plans to donate funds to the Armenian Hope Organization.
The Rev. Ara Guekguezian of Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church
said rebuilding homes will raise the self-esteem of the village.
"When you grow up in a village where everyone is poor, you can be
hopeless.
We are giving them a helpful gift," Guekguezian said.
Kazarian plans to move to Lusaghbyur in February. He would like to
develop relationships with the residents and learn the language before
starting on a 10-year building project. His wife and children —
ages 2, 3 and 5 — will join him.
"We all understand it will be difficult, but we are excited about it
as well," Kazarian said. "The kids are actually excited."
His wife, Jonelle, plans to look at it as an extended camping vacation
for three years.
"We’ve been joking about washing clothes in the river. … [But]
I’m willing and open for the challenge," she said.
The three main goals of the project involve providing housing,
education and employment, Yengoyan said. Habitat for Humanity requires
families to pay a mortgage with no interest for homes built through
the program, he said. It comes out to about $20 a month, Kazarian said.
Yengoyan envisions the organization taking the role of liaison with
business investors to help create jobs.
"We want to make sure this community can sustain itself," Yengoyan
said.
Kazarian said part of the challenge will involve educating residents
about repaying home loans, a new concept for many of them. Most are
used to having a home passed down from one generation to another,
he said. But he said the organization, whose members have seen the
living conditions, is committed to transforming the village.
"We are going there to make sure it happens," Kazarian said.